On the katana: WMD would improve balance(both for it and for many other presently useless energy weapons). I was hoping for something that would make it especially unique, given its role as a special weapon that the Fleet appears to be rushing to adopt at breakneck speed and its status as one of th...

There's a number of "unlock" upgrades you can get in the current game. The most obvious is the military ID, but there's also the smuggler's hold and simply upgrading your reactor. I'm not automatically averse to adding more such unlocks, but I do think the ones we currently have are nicely integrate...

@ JBW: I have no problem with base .27+c ships, especially if they have other weaknesses. No, it cannot outrun missiles since most are .40c or more, although it can probably get shot at less by avoiding enemies that shoot those missiles more easily, assuming its agility is as good as top speed. Mis...

Most of the fun of the game is in going out, getting into fights, and finding the rare intact items that you can make use of. The only reason to pick up a lot of the items in the game is to sell them -- they have no intrinsic value to the player except that they can be converted into cash. Unfortuna...

Two or three armor segments would be an advantage for the Wolfen, at least for players relying on shields instead of armor for defense, due to less mass weighing it down and less armor required to upgrade. The only time less armor would be a problem for such small ships is stacking special abilitie...

I agree Minotaur doesn't seem to fit the ship. How about Pilus? From Primus Pilus, which is the senior centurion of a Roman legion. Pilus also means spear (Primus Pilus would mean "first spear"), which fits both its shape and its role in attacking stations. From the look of the ship, I was trying t...

You might also consider giving it six armor plates like the Manticore. In my experience this makes a surprisingly large impact on the ship's survivability; it might help differentiate it from the other ships. ...come to think, has anyone ever considered downgrading the Wolfen to only 2 or 3 armor pl...

Centurions already fill the dogfighter role for Commonwealth Fleet ships, so this ship needs a different role. Your points suggest it should be a bomber / heavy assault ship, so give it a good launcher (Raisermessier or heavy NAMI) and powerful ammo, plus a reasonably powerful primary weapon, maybe ...

This Sapphire is the kind of ship I tend to build; a little overtuned, maybe, but very high damage output. I generally roll with a single primary weapon and a launcher instead of two primary weapons. Sapphire Level 5 * 100 MW reactor * Light Blast Plate * Class V Deflector (or if this ordinarily bei...

Perhaps it's because we fly into battle differently. However, When I first looked at the Source for this My first reaction was that I would get killed using it. I don't understand what you mean by this. Could you please clarify? I think it would be more helpful to lowly players like me if we looked...

Ammo weapons are supposed to be more powerful for their level than non-ammo weapons, to compensate for the ammo cost and inconvenience. Since the last rebalance, when most ammo was made significantly lighter and cheaper, and with availability now usually not a problem, I think many ammo weapons are...

Thermo weapons tend to be the best bet for the late game -- they have good damage, good WMD, good availability, and tritium injectors / lithium boosters make them heavily upgradable. However, I'm starting to feel like the thermo cannon is by far the best out of the lot, perhaps too much so. Let's co...

Destroying Black Market stations and selling the illegal consumer goods to a Victorian nightclub gets you 150% of the value of 30% of the items, for 45% of the total value. Plus, you get some of whatever other items they had. Buying them from Stations and Shipyards and selling them gets you (150 - ...

I would not destroy Black Market stations unless I could not dock with them (due to hotel bust and no source of ID). The shipyards are useful for dock services, especially when installing a waste cannon or overleveled devices sooner than others. Black Markets are also a good place to sell some mili...

I find the best thing to do with Black Markets is to get a smuggler's hold, then blow up every Black Market or illegal drugs (I forget the name) station you find. You get a bunch of free illegal goods to sell to the Startons. It's like getting paid to fight crime! Plus the Molotoks are pretty fun to...